george w. bush is the incumbent president. his challenger is this guy, massachusetts senator john kerry. remember at the democratic convention this year when john kerry gave the bang-up speech about mitt romney learning everything he knew about russia by watching rocky 4, and his overseas trip actually being a blooper reel and all that stuff? this this great barn burner of a very funny speech by john kerry. everybody said, afterwards, where was that john kerry when he was the guy running for president in 2004? well, that john kerry actually did show up in 2004 when he was running for president. at least he showed up for the first debate against the incumbent president that year, and in that first debate against the incumbent president, challenger john kerry cleaned the president's clock. >> i made a mistake in how i talk about the war, but the president made a mistake in invading iraq. which is worse? >> president bush and senator kerry were hard at it again today, campaigning across battleground states, continuing the spirite